How China Spawned a Bitcoin Industry in Three Months (and Why it Might be Doomed) via @Techinasia

You may recall that this Spring, the price of the virtual currency Bitcoin went a little crazy. Valued at just $13 per bitcoin (BTC) at the beginning of the year, the currency had jumped to nearly $300/BTC by April before dropping precipitously. Right now, the currency is more stable and is trading at around $90/BTC, but the Spring spike and subsequent drop caused a media sensation that reached China, where many people learned about the currency for the first time. Apparently, the currency’s fluctuations didn’t worry Chinese investors much, though, because what was once just a few scattered miners has reportedly sprung into a full-fledged industry. Techweb reports that China’s bitcoin scene now has everything from professional bitcoin investment services to customized bitcoin mining chip manufacturing. And indeed, wherever we looked, it seems services have sprung up, or gr...